Affiliations: [a] Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| [b] Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Peloponnese, Tripoli Greece
| [c] 251 Air Force General Hospital, Athens, Greece
| [d] First Department of Orthopaedics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Christos Triantafyllou, RN, MSCE, PhD, Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 123 Papadiamantopoulou Str., Goudi, 11527 Athens, Greece. E-mail: christrian@nurs.uoa.gr.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:It is well known that police officers (POs) are expected to be the first responders in emergency cases requiring First Aid (FA) such as cardiac arrest. OBJECTIVE:Description of practices and educational needs of Hellenic POs in providing FA/Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) in case of medical emergencies and description of the equipment of professional FA kit. METHODS:An anonymous cross-sectional survey was conducted from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2017, using a self-administered questionnaire designed to serve the purposes of this particular survey. The instrument consisted of 53 questions (multiple choice and open-ended questions) administered in a convenience sample of 700 POs of the Attica prefecture. RESULTS:A sample of 520 POs (constables and lieutenants) completed the questionnaire (response rate = 74.28%). Among the participants, 248 (47.7 %) declared that they had provided FA/CPR in the past, while among those declaring that they had never provided FA/PCR (n = 248), 153 (61.7%) said that they had experienced FA/CPR needs, but did not know what they had to do. Moreover, only 18.1% (94/520) of the POs answered that they have FA equipment in their professional equipment, which mainly includes bandages (54/94, 57.4%), while 29.7% of POs provided answers about their educational needs (313 in total) declared that they would like to be educated in bleeding control. CONCLUSION:There is a need to educate and train Greek POs in first aid and CPR in an organized and mandatory way in order to meet emergency needs.
